This invention relates to tent structures, and more particularly to inflatable tent structures. The tent has particular use as a short-term shelter for recreational camping or emergency housing, or as a collapsible darkroom, sauna, or the like within a conventional structure.
Tents have traditionally used mechanical support systems comprising various poles, arches, stakes, and lines. These support systems have often been complicated and have frequently failed during adverse conditions. More recently, pneumatic support methods have been developed. For example, flexible tubes, filled with high pressure fluid, have served as columns or arches from which tent membranes have been hung. Because high pressure has been required in these systems, however, quality control of the flexible tubes is a major problem.
Advantages and disadvantages of individual tents are often determined by the specific material chosen as the tent membrane. Canvas-like materials are durable, water-repellent, and "breatheable"; however, they are also heavy and bulky. Synthetic fibers such as nylon produce durable and yet lightweight tent membranes; however, to make nylon waterproof, it must be breatheable. with a plastic, such as urethane, which is not breathable. Hence, condensation of moisture from the breath of users of the tent becomes a considerable problem. To avoid condensation many modern tents use breatheable, non-waterproof, inner membranes and waterproof outer membranes supported away from the first membrane. This, of course, leads to undesirable complexity and bulk.
Also, even where the condensation problem is either ignored or reduced by proper ventilation, any pinholes in the plastic coating inevitably lead to leaks in the membrane.
The problem of leaks can be reduced somewhat by supporting synthetic-fiber tents with pneumatic systems which inflate the entire tent structures to a pressure slightly above ambient pressure. In this regard, the higher interior pressure helps repel water at membrane faults. Further, the air used to inflate the tents is continuously or periodically replaced and thereby also reduces the condensation problem. The present invention is particularly adaptable to this support method.
But even where an open pneumatic system is used with synthetic-fiber tents, the problem of water leakage is still found to a small extent along the seams of the membranes. A reason for this is that the threads used in sewing seams do not completely fill the holes formed in the waterproof coatings during sewing. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a pneumatically-supported tent having a minimized total seam length for a given tent volume.
In the tent making process, it is also preferred that seams be linear to avoid the obvious problems created by curved seams in both cutting and sewing operations. It is therefore another object of this invention to provide a tent structure which may be formed using only linear seams.
Because of the chance that a system used to inflate a tent may fail, it is a further object of this invention to provide a tent which may be easily supported by mechanical means when necessary.
It is known that the most suitable color of a tent membrane may vary according to the environmental conditions. For example, during the winter one might prefer a dark color which will absorb the sun's rays. However, during the summer months, one would prefer a color which would reflect the rays.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a tent which permits a user to vary the color of the tent membrane exposed to direct sun rays as environmental conditions dictate.
Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a tent which may be reduced to a flat rectangular sheet for simple folding.